Category Archives: Global Social Entrepreneurship

As a Foster MBA student, getting a job and achieving financial independence is usually expected and the path to find a job is relatively clear. But in parts of rural India where education access may be limited and women are discouraged from working outside the home, financial independence is difficult to obtain and the jobs that are available are often insecure. The Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), a 1.5 million member trade union for poor self-employed women, is working to change that by helping to organize stable jobs and showing the benefits employment for women can provide. Every year since 2011, the MBA Global Consulting Project has sent twenty of Foster’s MBA students to the states of Gujarat and Rajasthan in India to partner with SEWA, study the group’s projects and apply their MBA business analysis to provide recommendations.

SEWA’s partners in the MBA Global Consulting Project get to see these benefits first-hand in their intense ten day visit to the region to understand the issues, meet with the grassroots entrepreneurs that make up SEWA and find projects that can improve lives. Gathering research about projects in an organization that helps local people work for themselves goes beyond recording facts. Hearing about the business means hearing the stories of women who have grown into leaders, young people who gain better education because of their parents’ new-found work, and local businesses that are truly family affairs. For the MBA students, the trip is as productive as it is inspiring.

Examples of projects include:

Rudiben (RUDI): It’s similar to Avon, but instead of selling cosmetics, the women sell spices, sugar and grains. They can often make more than double what they would otherwise earn doing embroidery or agricultural work. Read more here and here.

Jyoti: It provides solar electricity for schools, solar lanterns for homes, and hand pumps in remote villages with limited access to electricity and clean water. It is funded by the Coca-Cola India Foundation. The hand pumps save time and improve the health of the family by giving them reliable access to clean water. The solar electricity and lanterns improve the quality of life by powering fans during hot weather and lights during darker times of year. Read more.

Shantipath Peace Centers: The centers are designed to help women find jobs within their community. Read more.

Hariyali: It provides solar power or biomass gasification technology which is used to supply small rural villages with electricity. Read more.

Upon returning to Foster for winter quarter, students work with mentors, SEWA managers and the research they gathered in India to provide recommendations on important issues the union’s projects face, from Castor oil supply problems to how to measure the impact of solar lanterns in people’s lives. In a March video conference, the students present their recommendations to SEWA for feedback and implementation. Since SEWA’s most dedicated investors are the people in the communities it works with, leveraging the money the organization has is vital.

To read first-hand accounts from MBAs who traveled to India and worked on this project, check out the MBA Global Consulting Project blog. This project is led by Professor Cate Goethals.

The Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition (GSEC) is an international student social business plan competition that challenges university-level students worldwide to use business principles to create sustainable, positive solutions to some of the world’s most challenging issues—poverty, health and development. Semi-finalist student teams from around the globe are invited to Seattle to present their ideas to coaches, mentors and judges and compete to win prizes.

This year, we are proud to announce that 20 teams will be coming to Seattle for GSEC Week, February 24-28, 2014. Teams were selected from a pool of 160 applicants from universities in 37 countries. They are:

Agro-Youth Achievers- Makerere University, UgandaAgro-Youth Achievers aims to introduce large scale mushroom farming to the Kabale District of Uganda in order to diversify the agricultural economy, generate revenue for farmers, and address issues of malnutrition in Uganda.

AYUDA Food Aid- Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines
AYUDA Food Aidis a nutrition-dense ready to eat compressed food bar that is intended for victims of natural disaster in the Philippines. AYUDA is a good source of energy, protein, carbohydrates and other essential nutrients typically lacking in most disaster relief goods such as instant noodles and canned foods.

Bhitti- University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
Bhittiutilizes sugarcane bagasse, an agricultural by-product, to manufacture environmentally friendly, affordable and sustainable materials for construction. These materials can be used to build sturdier housing options in Bangladesh that may offer protection from natural disasters.

Cottaids- University of Hong Kong, China
Cottaidsemploys villagers living with AIDS in Henan, China, to produce cotton textiles such as sweaters, jackets and uniforms. Profits are reinvested into “AIDS villages” in China to recruit and train workers and volunteers, improve village hygiene, build educational and medical infrastructure and alleviate poverty in these marginalized areas.

Days for Girls Bridges- University of Washington, USA
Days for Girls Bridgessells affordable menstrual hygiene kits and delivers reproductive health education to women in Uganda through certified health representatives known as WISH (Women’s Income through Sustainable Hygiene) Representatives. WISH Representatives receive training in business skills, reproductive health information, and production of sustainable hygiene kits in order to provide sanitary products and break taboos around female menstruation.

Easy Ramp- Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology and University of Dhaka, BangladeshEasy Ramp is a wheelchair ramp that can be used for entry and exit on buses and other modes of public transportation in Bangladesh, as well as in homes and offices. Easy Ramp allows for easier commuting for those living with disabilities, an obstacle that prevents many people with disabilities from working. This durable ramp is made from jute polymer and metal alloy and is adjustable to standard single and double decker buses as well as buildings.

Fargreen- Colorado State University, USAFargreen uses zero waste farming technology to convert rice straw waste into a product that can be used for mushroom farming and the production of bio fertilizers in Vietnam. This model prevents farmers from burning waste and releasing greenhouse gases into the air while also allowing farmers to diversify their crop yields and gain additional income from mushroom farming.

Gas for Tomorrow (G4T)- University of Rwanda, Rwanda
G4T converts waste into biogas for lighting and cooking, while also producing bio-fertilizer that can be used for farming in Rwanda. G4T will reduce deforestation for charcoal production and also reduce dependency on petro fuel throughout Rwanda.

Green World Enterprise- Kyambogo University and Makerere University, UgandaGreen World Enterprise produces briquettes made from waste and cassava flour as an alternative to charcoal in Uganda. By paying households to separate plastics and polythene from the rest of their waste for collection, Green World Enterprises incentivizes behavior changes toward waste disposal and offers an environmentally friendly alternative to charcoal.

In-House Energy and Income Facility for Poor (PAK-Energy Solution)- The Institute of Chartered Accounts of Pakistan and Virtual University of Pakistan, PakistanIn-House Energy and Income Facility for Poor (PAK- Energy Solution) sells portable and affordable natural gas digesters to households in rural Pakistan that convert livestock waste into energy that can be used for cooking, heating and lighting. The digesters also produce a by-product that can be used as fertilizer, reducing health problems caused by wood burning and chemical fertilizers.

LifeSaver- Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, National University, North South University, and University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
LifeSaveris a fire extinguishing sprinkler system that both extinguishes fires and alerts the nearest fire department of the emergency. The LifeSaver system is offered at a low cost to garment factories in Bangladesh for protection from fires that claim lives in garment factories each year.

Nanoly Bioscience- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California Berkeley, and University of Colorado, USA
Nanoly Bioscienceaims to eliminate the need for vaccine refrigeration with a nano-sized polymer that stabilizes vaccines and other temperature sensitive medicines so that vaccines may be safely and effectively delivered at a low cost anywhere in the world.

PowerCane- University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
PowerCaneis a biomass gasifier that uses sugarcane bagasse, a waste product of sugar production, to produce electricity in northern Bangladesh where most sugar production in the country occurs. PowerCane seeks to provide electricity to “off the grid” areas where electricity is scarce.

Recoplastic- Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Tufts University, USA
Recoplasticis an eco-friendly raw plastic producer that uses recycled waste to produce Eco-Plastic, a raw material for plastic conversion, and Eco-Masterbatch, a plastic chemical additive. Recoplastic aims to improve recycling services in Nigeria as well as to make plastic products more accessible to the poor.

SafeSIPP- Arizona State University, USA
SafeSIPPis an integrated water purification system within a barrel that simultaneously allows for the transport and purification of water. SafeSIPP improves access to clean water in the developing world by addressing transportation, purification and storage issues.

SmartSchool- University of Dhaka, BangladeshSmart School repairs and reassembles computers in order to ensure computer education for students in Bangladesh. SmartSchool purchases and assembles used computer parts into working computers meant for use in elementary and secondary schools.

Teletest Technologies- University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
Teletest Technologiesuses a mobile app to deliver educational and curriculum materials that allow for remote learning and tutoring, learning among peers, and improved communication between students, teachers and parents. Teletest Technologies addresses school dropout rates in Bangladesh that result from inadequate preparation by empowering students to engage in distance learning.

Gunawave- University of Washington, USA
Gunawave provides training, infrastructure, and technology-focused jobs to poor women in Mexico through skills training and English instruction.

WaterPurifierTM- University of Dhaka, BangladeshWaterPurifierTM is an environmentally friendly, low-cost solar powered water purifier that ensures a supply of safe drinking water throughout the year for people in Bangladesh.

Follow #GSEC2014 for important competition updates, pictures and videos.

One of the goals of the Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition was to provide students with training and resources that enable them to launch their social business ideas. We are excited to share these updates about past GSEC participants. These teams continue to make a real impact!

The 2013 ICT Prize winners, are solving real-life problems by harnessing the power of citizen voice. Since their participation in GSEC, Social Cops has been bringing citizens, NGOs and city councils together in India to solve important community issues. Their recent campaign, I Lead Ranchi, was widely successful in raising awareness of the dark, crime-ridden neighborhoods of India. At the end of the campaign more than 2000 streetlights were installed at a cost totaling well over 300,000 USD. Other current campaigns include road safety and improvements and sexual violence. Find out more about these campaigns on their website.

Soko, formerly known as SasaAfrica, was the ICT Prize winner 2012 and launched an online platform for craftswomen in the developing world to enter the global market. Artisans who lack computers and bank accounts use mobile phone technology to manage their production, sell to shoppers, and get paid directly. Soko promotes fair and ethical trade and brings sustainable fashion to the global marketplace. This new global revenue allows artisans to devote themselves fully to their craft, expand their operations, and develop literacy in mobile technologies and business. Since, 2012 Soko has grown from a successful scaled pilot to a viable business with an international team of 12, accolades and awards from prestigious competitions, and most recently US$700,000 raised from Dubai-based investment firm Rio Partners and other angel investors. Check out their story and exquisite jewelry pieces on the Soko website.

Grand Prize and Investor’s Choice winner 2012, is addressing the issues surrounding the stigma and taboo of menstruation for schoolgirls in Kenya. With each menstrual cup purchased, Ruby Cup gives one to someone who cannot afford menstrual hygiene products. Girls would miss up to 20% of their time in school because of their period, and now they are comfortable and unashamed. The team has started their field work in Kenya and has plans to expand from there. Find out what Ruby Cup means to these girls by reading their letters here.

The 2011 Grand Prize and Rotary Prize of Social Impact winner, is bringing sustainable sanitation to urban slums. Sanergy’s Fresh Life Toilets are designed and manufactured at their local workshop and franchised to a network of Fresh Life Operators. Waste is then collected daily and converted into organic fertilizer and renewable energy and sold back into the market. To date, Sanergy has 307 Fresh Life Toilets, employs 161 Fresh Life Operators, and provides 12,000 daily users with affordable hygienic sanitation. They have even created 350+ jobs which include the Sanergy team, Fresh Life Operators and attendants. Sanergy has been recently chosen as an Ashoka Fellow and are excited to share their work throughout their new network.

The 2011 Global Health Prize winner, is delivering cleaner water via an innovative WaterWheel. Greater access to potable water frees up valuable time and keeps children in school and women engaging in more productive activities, therefore breaking the cycle of poverty. Wello has manufactured the WaterWheel 2.0 and tested the design prototype with over 500 people in the villages of Rajasthan. The current prototype meets basic needs but they are looking forward to making even more modifications to improve the user experience. In December 2012, Wello Founder and CEO Cynthia Koenig spoke at TEDxGateway in Mumbai—watch her talk here.

The 2010 Grand Prize Winner, is working to raise capital and using GSEC prize money to help expand operations in the Rwandan countryside. On the product side, they are redesigning the light so that it is 3.5 times brighter and have begun rolling out cell phone chargers. They currently have almost 10,000 lights sold (~50,000 users) and 70 recharging stations. They will begin scaling up rapidly at the start of next year throughout Rwanda and East Africa. Check out their website.

The Global Health Winner, received a boost after participating in GSEC. “We have partnered with PATH assess and launch ToucHb in developing areas of the world. We also co-applied with PATH for an exploratory grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. While the development is taking place in Mumbai, an independent assessment is envisioned to take place in Seattle. A prototype of ToucHb was given to PATH for the same. Needless to say, our participation at GSEC opened doors beyond our expectation.”

This 2009 Finalist Team has evolved into the present day microcredit NGO Lumana based in Ghana. With a mission of alleviating poverty in rural communities through education and entrepreneurship, the organization’s operations have grown from a small project as part of a local Development Foundation to a full-fledged independent organization. Lumana has solidified relationships with 33 cooperatives, serves 13 villages, provided $292,000 in loans and employs 9 African staff members. Learn more, and be sure to check out the article about Lumana in The Atlantic.

The GSEC 2007 Finalist Team, grew from the belief that there exists a better way for Panamanian peasant farmers and indigenous communities to maximize the economic benefit from their natural resources. To this end, PE offers socially and environmentally minded investors growth opportunities in sustainably managed timber plantations that benefit these people. PE maintains 50 acres of timber plantations that include over six species of commercially valuable trees. In 2009, it was selected as a SEED Award winner, a program of the United Nations.

Nineteen UW students along with faculty member Cate Goethals and GBC staff member Jess Rush recently returned from a nearly month long trip to India to explore the “half the sky” and “third billion” concepts and more. The group met with women who lead everything from small village councils to Tata Starbucks. Meetings in corporate offices, on the bus, and in the homes of garment workers opened eyes, challenged perceptions and provided incredible inspiration.

Approximately half the students are or are planning to pursue a major in the Foster School. The other half is studying everything from biology to human rights. Regardless of their course of study, the students found themselves uniting through the challenge that traveling through India affords as well as the rich interactions the group was lucky to be a part of. Debriefs focused on big business impacting social change, on the importance of educating girls, on why women are critical to the success of a country in transition, on how to create balance in one’s own life.

Among the corporate visits, a highlight was a visit to Tata Starbucks headquarters on just the second day of the month long trip. CEO Avani Davda is the youngest CEO in the Tata system and is leading the Starbucks brand through its India expansion. Avani and her exec team spoke to the group about the partnership between Tata and Starbucks and the commitment both companies have to corporate social responsibility. It is this kind of common value system that makes the partnership work, they told the group. No visit to Starbucks would be complete without a coffee tasting, but to be led through it by the young CEO was something else.

Beyond learning from meetings with leaders, this group of students was incredibly dedicated to giving back. Over the summer they raised nearly $6000 to fund three projects: a fledgling thread store operated by SEWA to serve their garment workers, a Hippocampus Education Center partnered with Grameen Koota, and a rainwater harvesting system installed by Biome at a village girls’ school. At SEWA the students developed business plan ideas on how the store could best use the donation with the goal of self-sustainability. At the Hippocampus center, three and four year olds demonstrated their proficiency with English through songs and showed the group the value of early education. With Biome, visiting one school with an established system the group saw the great impact their donation will have. At the recipient school, the group was treated to a warm welcome by the whole village.

In three and a half weeks, this group of 21 from the UW visited eight cities in six states. The students return to campus full of the knowledge they gained in both the corporate and nonprofit sectors. But more importantly, they return with a better understanding of who they are and how they might fit into this great, small world.

“GSEC is a world class competition, we were truly inspired by the knowledge and the generosity of each and every person we met. GSEC was the stepping stone that propelled Malo Traders to the next stage by establishing our credibility and sparking media attention.” -Mohamed Ali Niang, Malo Traders team, 2010 Judges’ Choice Award.Below is information about the teams that have competed in the Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition.

2010 Judges’ Choice team Malo Traders has incorporated and also worked with PATH during the summer 2010. Global health prize team ToucHb (Biosense) was selected a 2010 Echoing Green fellow and was invited back to Seattle in summer 2010 to further develop their technology! See the Team Updates tab to learn more about individual teams.

Last week, 15 people including investors, entrepreneurs, consultants and non-profit executives joined students on 14 teams that competed in the Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition (GSEC) in Seattle – either in person or virtually, to finalize their business plans and presentations for a winning social enterprise. The teams from Africa, Asia and the U.S created business plans to address health and economic development problems in developing countries and competed for prizes.

After mentoring and judging in university competitions for the past 12 years, I know what it takes for a university to make a competition successful. UW’s Foster School’s Global Business Center did a great job making the experience very rewarding for the teams, judges, coaches, student ambassadors, mentors and sponsors. An organization that I am a co-founder in, Enterprise Futures Network (www.enterprisefutures.org) , is the Competition’s Mentorship Partner and has helped source mentors for two years.

GSEC’s mentors are located in Seattle, the San Francisco Bay Area, and from Europe, particularly Denmark. Each mentor donates about eight hours of his or her time over a six week period to help the team prepare before the competition and then several more hours during the week of the competition if possible. While about half of the mentors have mentored for GSEC before, the other half experienced this competition for the first time this year.
One of those new mentors for this year was John Locher, who co-founded internet companies Classmates.com and Redweek.com. He thoroughly enjoyed mentoring his team from Bangladesh with his co-mentor Mike Siemion, a co-founder with John at these companies, and plans to be back next year. John and Mike were joined by Norm Bontje, George Economy, who co-mentored with Linda Long, Merrill Grogel, Greg Free, Michael Gilson, Thomas Jensen, Nils- Michael Langenborg, John Raabo Nielsen, Søren Therkelsen, Rick McPherson, Kim Nelson, Carol Sanford, Craig Bruya, Michael “Luni” Libes and Pete Peterson.

The teams also got coaching on their presentations from other volunteers that UW’s Foster School of Business engaged during the week of the competition (February 25-28th).

UW made our job to provide and train mentors to support the competition very easy. The GSEC team led by Deborah Wolf and Kirsten Aoyama had a great plan and executed it flawlessly. They were responsive to the needs of the mentors and made it possible for mentors to participate in very meaningful ways, including networking with other mentors at a mentor breakfast EFN and UW organized.

UW created the right environment for successful mentoring, including educating the teams and mentors on the benefits of a mentor based program, and by creating clear expectations for both mentees and mentors. UW and EFN shared helpful tips and examples of best practices, maintained regular communications and gave mentors the opportunity to share ideas to improve the process throughout the mentoring period. While all competitions that engage mentors do it somewhat differently, certainly UW’s well organized and straight forward approach makes it easier for mentors to engage compared to institutions that, for example, only facilitate informal mentor-team matching without framing mentoring expectations for participants (e.g., such as inviting mentors and teams to events where they can self-match).

Tips that really helped the teams included encouraging mentors to ask teams for a specific milestones schedule to complete their plans and pitches. This tool served as a roadmap from which the mentees and mentors could work from. From my experience mentoring Jorsey Ashbel Farms (JAF), a scalable chicken production venture in Nigeria that won the grand prize, the framework and expectations that UW created mentoring made the process more efficient, allowing JAF and me to focus on the hard work of validating assumptions and developing a scalable business model.

On a personal level, working with JAF’s co-founders, Mene Blessing and Ayuba Ashbel from the Nigeria was a tremendous pleasure, because of their commitment to the venture, professionalism and sincerity. I look forward to visiting with them in April when they will compete in the finals for the Global Social Venture Competition in Berkeley, California.

I was very impressed that most of the local mentors attended the finals and even the preliminary round to coach their teams. Many non-local mentors worked with their teams remotely until the preliminaries or finals. Greg Free, who mentored Breathsuite, a UW based team that invented a respiratory diagnostic application delivered through mobile phones, viewed the Foster School’s “live stream” of his team in the final round when he could not be there in person. Greg, a non-profit director and sales and software executive, told me that “over the time I spent with them, I dropped lots of suggestions and was left somewhat uneasy about whether they were landing. They got it – in spades – and did an outstanding job of transforming what they started with into a pretty darned good presentation.”

Carol Sanford, an author, consultant and speaker on responsible business, shared her thoughts about mentoring for this competition over the past three years. “I’m getting better at it; knowing how to help my team meet challenges and to ask them to focus on what judges look for”. She loves to help teams pivot their businesses “to improve and to think bigger about what they can do.” Carol’s team, Social Cops, won the competition’s ICT prize sponsored by Microsoft.

I hope that people who attended the events (and read this article!) will be inspired join the fun next year and chose to mentor or coach a team or become a judge. Take my word for it, future mentors will find this experience extremely rewarding and a great opportunity to engage with entrepreneurs changing the world. If you would like to apply to serve as a mentor next year, please apply! http://www.enterprisefutures.net/mentorappl.html.

Increasing protein-based food in Nigeria, promoting coffee in Rwanda, reducing indoor air pollution from cooking in Bangladesh, building a wheelchair out of bamboo—these are a few of the ideas presented in the 2013 Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition. The competition, which was hosted by the Foster School’s Global Business Center, had 14 semi-finalist teams from Bangladesh, India, Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, and the U.S.—including one UW team—competing in Seattle for over $30,000 in prizes. The winners were announced at a celebration dinner on February 28, 2013.

Grand Prize $12,500 = Jorsey Ashbel Farms
Jorsey Ashbel Farms turn mango seeds into livestock feed. This tackles the poverty issue of protein-energy malnutrition, which affects millions of disadvantaged people in Nigeria, particularly women and children. They have already generated $31,000 in revenue, proving their business model works. When Mauricio Vivero from the Seattle International Foundation announced the winning team he said, “The final judges noted that the winners proved the model worked, which was fundamental, and also that the business plan thoughtfully and fully addressed the social good.” Blessing Oritseweyinmi Mene from National Open University in Nigeria and Ashbel Ngalabak Ayuba from Ahmadu Bello University presented the idea at GSEC. The other team member is Godson Chizurum Ogumka from Abia State University. This prize was sponsored by the Seattle International Foundation and Microsoft.

Information & Communication Technology Prize $10,000 = Social Cops
Prukalpa Sankar and Varun Banka from Nanyang Technological University launched Social Cops so ordinary citizens could easily report civic issues such as uncollected trash, potholes, leaking water pipes, etc. to local government officials with their mobile phone in their home country India. The civic reporting platform will begin a pilot this summer in Delhi. This prize was sponsored by Microsoft.

Global Health Prize $10,000 = LifeChair
LifeChair produces a wheelchair made of bamboo and rickshaw wheels. It is significantly less expensive than the wheelchairs currently available in Bangladesh and is designed and built to be used in rural areas. Makame Mahmud and Naseef Us Sakib from University of Dhaka created this company to help handicapped Bangladeshis become active members of society. This prize was sponsored by the UW Department of Global Health.Rotary Prize for Social Impact $1,500 = Coffee Promo Co.
Coffee Promo Co. was started by Jean-Christophe Rusatira and Candide Mujawayezu, two medical students from the National University of Rwanda. Their goal is to install washing stations right at the coffee farm so the farmers can sell their beans already sorted and processed and get a much higher price, as well as improve yields by providing more training to farmers and planting better coffee trees. Once the farmers and workers make more money from coffee bean production, they will have more money to spend on healthcare and education to improve their communities and living standards. This prize was sponsored by the Seattle Rotary.

National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance E-Team Prize $5,000 and a Venture Lab Workshop = Disease Diagnostic Group
Disease Diagnostic Group uses the low-cost Rapid Assessment of Malaria (RAM) device to provide a handheld diagnosis for malaria in one minute at very low cost. This team also won the Investor’s Choice Award at the 2013 Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition Trade Show.

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn spoke at the beginning of the celebration dinner. He said that while the people who proclaimed Seattle as a city of the future 50 years ago didn’t get everything right, they were right in a few areas. “They did get it right that it is appropriate, it is right to be innovative, creative, and idealistic. It is right to think about others and that’s how we’re going to keep working to build a city of the future.”

The keynote speaker at the award banquet was Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen, owner and CEO of Vestergaard Frandsen, which produces products for prevention of infectious diseases such as malaria. The company’s LifeStraw® water filters were named one of the best inventions by Time and one of the best innovations by Esquire and also won the Saatchi & Saatchi Award for World Changing Ideas. Frandsen, however, said of accolades LifeStraw® has received, “None of this matters unless it’s in the hands of the people who need it most, and that’s where the real innovation is.” He covered three kinds of innovation required to solve global health issues: innovation around creativity of new tool development, innovation around the deployment of new tools, and innovation around financing.

GSEC 2013 welcomes 14 semi-finalist teams – representing 9 countries and 12 universities – to Seattle for this year’s high-powered GSEC from February 25 – March 1. Teams were selected from an applicant pool of 91 applicants from 67 Universities in 29 countries.

All 14 teams competed in semi-finals – congratulations to the six finalist teams: BreatheSuite, Coffee Promo Co., Eco-Chula, Jorsey Ashbel Farms, LifeChair and Social Cops. You can watch the video of six finalist teams’ presentations here and read more about the winners here.

AquaFiltro provides household drinking water treatment techniques in Ghana by developing two types of water treatment products, a basic model ceramic filter and a deluxe model ceramic filter. The filters consist of plastic containers and ceramic filter element. The deluxe model differentiates by user-friendliness, aesthetics, and durability. Both filters are effective at helping household water meet the drinking water standard.

BreatheSuite uses two different technologies, SpiroSmart and CoughSense, to measure lung function and cough frequency, respectively. The company will partner with a number of for-profit and non-profit organizations to magnify the technology’s impact and reach people in both developed and developing markets. View their final presentation.Coffee Promo Co. - National University of Rwanda, Rwanda

Our objectives are promoting sustainable coffee farming in rural areas, as well as making Rwanda coffee producers earn more and be less affected by price fluctuations. The idea of building a coffee washing station and training coffee growers aims to increase the added value on coffee for sale to the developed world. View their final presentation.

Disease Diagnostic Group uses the low-cost Rapid Assessment of Malaria (RAM) device to provide a handheld diagnosis for malaria in one minute by taking a drop of blood from a fingertip. The RAM device has potential to become the universal method of malaria diagnosis and eventually lead the way to the eradication of the disease.

Indoor air pollution is the single largest environmental risk factor for female mortality in the developing world. Eco-Chula uses an integrated approach to combat this problem by providing an affordable, efficient cooking solution powered by compressed bio-gas. The venture raises awareness among people, trains them, creates job opportunities, and offers cash discounts and installment payment on product purchase. View their final presentation.

Eccolizer seeks to solve the food insecurity of 64 million extremely poor people residing in Bangladesh by augmenting agricultural yields and providing employment opportunity with the help of an economically cheap & ecologically friendly bio-fertilizer that can also be used as insecticide and pesticide.

FastTrack House is an initiative to bring innovation in the housing infrastructure sector through a low cost & fast track housing solution, thereby improving the lives of slum-dwellers & disaster-affected people. They have developed a technology for making aggregates out of demolition waste or debris to form interlocking concrete blocks to construct a low cost, quality, eco-friendly house in only 7 days.

FreedomLens is an innovative, affordable pair of eye glasses that allow people with severe vision impairment or blindness to hear the text in books, newspapers, menus, product packages and signs in a multitude of languages. Using proprietary and open source technology, FreedomLens, enables blind people to acquire knowledge, navigate directions and earn a living. FreedomLens will provide the blind with access to resources and opportunities, gain independence to ultimately improve their quality of life.

Jorsey Ashbel Farm (JAF) tells of how an unconventional livestock farm is pioneering a ground-breaking approach to tackling the poverty problem of Protein-Energy Malnutrition affecting millions of disadvantaged children and women. JAF produces Nigeria’s Cheapest Livestock Products using a new, scientifically-proven low-cost livestock feeds production technique combined with an innovative deployment strategy.

LifeChair – University of Dhaka, Bangladesh

LifeChair offers a cheaper, bamboo based wheelchair with greater features than a traditional wheelchair to give medical mobility aid for physically disabled and financial challenged people residing in Bangladesh. LifeChair aims to increase affordability, accessibility, and awareness within the target population. View their final presentation.

Saral KONNECT is an impact leveraging unit that levers the efforts of social enterprises and other mission driven set ups to help them scale and sustain as they approach relatively ‘foreign’ rural landscape and to create measurable impact by offering them project sites, primary field research, HR and operational support.

Shwari Biofuel Solutions Limited shall endeavor to produce eco-friendly biofuel to home owners and institutions in rural areas and slums, by providing the best products and services and continuously improving on the technology, tools and techniques employed.

Vendi is a social venture that aims to eliminate the intermediaries and sell vegetables at a reasonable price after procuring them directly from farmers. The organization addresses multiple social problems such as exploitation of vegetable farmers and consumers; deteriorating quality of vegetables through the addition of excessive pesticides, high wastage due to lack of proper care, and lack of access to high nutrition food for the urban people.

Watch the slideshow below for pictures from the event.

*This post has been updated with information regarding the winners and a photo slideshow*

Guest post by Jene Etheridge, Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition (GSEC) Ambassador, Foster undergrad and President of UW Social Entrepreneurship Club

Entrepreneurs, students, engineers, and investors filled Anthony’s Forum in Dempsey Hall on the UW Campus with excitement and curiosity as teams from all over the world prepared to present at the 2013 Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition’s Trade Show. The evening began with one-minute pitches from each team which highlighted their solutions and resulting benefits for social issues. The issues ranged from problems of respiratory disease and unclean water to accessible housing and resources.

Eco-Chula

Volunteer judges from the Seattle business, education and nonprofit community joined community members and host families—all of whom were given a hypothetical $1,000 to invest in the teams, culminating in an “Investor’s Choice” and “People’s Choice” Prize awarded at the end of the event. Judges included representatives from the Evans School of Public Affairs, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Sophos Law Firm, Ness Consulting, and various UW departments.

When I talked to Brijesh Sharma, a first-time GSEC attendee and a Hubert Humphrey Fellow, he emphasized his intrigue in the range of ideas and innovative solutions. “The hardest part is choosing who to invest in,” he said, “but it’s an opportunity to test the teams’ ideas and helps build confidence for them.” An emphasis on high social impact instead of profit is something that an undergraduate business student isn’t used to hearing, but for this week the lens is re-focused through GSEC, which defines success by social impact.

I was curious as to how some of these companies even started, and was interested in Prukalpa Sankar’s story about where the idea came from for Social Cops, an open web and mobile platform where citizens, councils and corporations come together to solve civic problems. “We didn’t want to go corporate when we studied business.” She mentioned that they were inspired to start Social Cops because of the social movement, India Against Corruption. Not only are these social movements creating catalysts for change, but also urging members in their communities to mobilize and take action into their own hands.

Although some in attendance were major players in the business world, I realized they were there to find a cause they believed in that had the right people to carry out a solution with a positive social impact. I knew my fellow ambassadors would leave the trade show inspired to make change in our own communities. When I talked to Joyce Tang, a student ambassador for the livestock provider Jorsey Ashbel Farms, she emphasized even more student involvement for events like GSEC. “You meet the world here!” She told me as we watched the teams attentively answering questions from judges. “I think people forget that business can be used to benefit others too.” GSEC is somewhere to get inspired, because we see how social entrepreneurship is even more important to the founders of these companies. They’re passionate about these innovative solutions because they have grown up with these issues firsthand.

Coffee Promo Co.

Troy Hudson, one of the participating investor judges, added a new perspective to the group as an immigrant from Guyana and Seattle business executive. “It’s important to use these business

skills to solve social problems and reinvest the profit back into a sustainable solution,” he said. The judges, along with fellow students and members of the Seattle community, offered a great opportunity for dynamic discussion on past projects and international travels, as well as innovative resources.

It seemed like the two hours had been only minutes when the announcements were made for the Investors’ and People’s Choice Awards. For the first time in GSEC history, each team received votes from the investor judges. The deliberation was so difficult the People’s Choice Award was presented to two teams: Eco-Chula from University of Dhaka in Bangladesh and Coffee Promo Co. from National University of Rwanda. The Investors’ Award was presented to one of the U.S. teams, Disease Diagnostic Group from Case Western Reserve University in Ohio. Congrats everyone!

Guest post by Kelly Shen, Foster undergrad and Certificate in International Studies in Business (CISB) student
She is a Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition (GSEC) ambassador to Team LifeChair from Bangladesh.

Around noon on Monday, the Douglas Forum slowly filled up as teams from all across the world staggered in to attend orientation for one of the most prestigious competitions for university-level students. Amongst the crowd this year were engineering students from India and business students from Bangladesh, community members from the area, UW professors and students. For some, this was their first time traveling outside of their home countries; for others, their first time in America and for some, their first time in Seattle.

Each year, the Global Business Center hosts the week-long Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition on the University of Washington campus and brings together undergraduate and graduate students driven by the common goal of creating sustainable, positive solutions to the issues they face in their home countries and around the world. Unlike case competitions, participants of the GSEC come to the competition knowing what they are competing on—a solution for a challenging social issue. For many of the participants, this week is a chance for them to showcase their months, and even years, of hard work.

The majority of the teams arrived over the weekend. Armed with heavy coats and umbrellas, they took on sightseeing in Seattle during the day. One team, from the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras, India told me about their Seattle exploration. When I asked if they went to the first Starbucks and Pike Place Market, one team member replied “Too many people!” and his teammate laughed, “Too many fish!” When I asked if there was anything in particular they wanted to see in Seattle, the team told me that anything would be fun since they were too busy preparing their presentation before their trip to even look up what to do in Seattle. This just shows the passion these teams have for bettering society.

At night, these teams are up all night working—partially because of jet lag but mostly by their drive to deliver the perfect presentation. When I first met the LifeChair team from the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh, they told me that they had been up since 1:00 a.m. working. It was 1:00 in the afternoon. As you can imagine, most of these teams have traveled more than halfway across the world, boarding flights which last more than 10 hours. One team, FastTrack House, even told me about how they rode camels on their 20 hours layover in Dubai. But none of this stopped them—despite the jet lag and adjusting the change in environment, the teams persevered to deliver their elevator pitches and presentations to coaching round judges Monday afternoon.

Each year since GSEC first began in 2005, the scale of global issues and scope of solutions competition participants bring to the table have greatly increased. This year, GSEC is honored to invite 34 students from 9 nationalities and 12 universities in the United States, Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda and Singapore. For these teams, getting to Seattle was no easy feat either. This year, the teams beat out 91 other competitors from 67 universities in 29 countries to get a chance to pitch their idea to the judges on Thursday. So if you see them around campus this week, congratulate them! Great job, GSEC teams and I can’t wait to see what this week has in store for you!